• Silent Moment


    CHAPTER 1 : The Clock is Ticking

    Hi, I'm John Verdi. I live in Staten Island, New York City. I attend in Susan B Wagner Highschool, and a straight 'A' student in every class, and in the 11th grade. I sit on my seat as I stare at the clock. "Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock.." I than suddenly felt a tap on my right shoulder, I slowly turned to the direction I was tapped and saw my Math teacher looking at me. I than realize I had a quiz, I looked back at the clock, it was 1:49, I had few more minutes left. I quickly picked up my pencil and quickly circle the answers randomly. The teacher was still next to me looking over my shoulder. Then the bell rang, she than tapped me again. I finished circling the last question on the quiz.. Mrs. Manzo than reached for my paper. "You can leave all your sheet on the table, rest of you can leave except for you, John." Mrs. Manzo said. She than looked down at me. "John, is anything wrong? You stared at the clock for over 30 minutes. Is there some where you have to go?" she asked. "....Not really, I just wanted to get out of ....never mind" I responded. She looked back at my quiz, as I stared at her. It went silent for a moment, than she looked back down again. This time her expression changed, she had a surprising expression on her face this time, just like when she got yelled by mother last year. "You got every single questions, correct.." I quickly had a grin and chuckled silently a little. I than took my book bag and walked quickly out the classroom down the door to the outside of my school.

    CHAPTER 2 : A Surprising News

    I'm walking down the sidewalks to my house, while the sun is shinning on my face. I'm walking and suddenly I spot a whitish van parked on the sidewalk next to my house. I'm not on the footsteps on the front porch of my house, I reach to open the door and seems to be open. Now I quickly step in and see one man with darkish hair, white T-shirt, torn up jeans, and shoes with mud on it. He's holding a glass of water and slowly sips it. Mother is sitting on the couch and seem to be talking. I put down my book bag by the stairs. They both seem not to see me. I try to hide from my mother and the man, but as I go half way up my mother finally spots me and tell me to come down. I went down slowly and sees the man face, he has a short darkish beard, with a brownish eye. I see him smiling, and I walk forward to my mom. I slowly sit down and try not to look him directly in the man's eye. "John, this is........." my mom said. Her face than turned red. The man looks at me. "...your dad" the man says. "Whh...What? Wait what?" I said. "John....It's hard to explain.." my mother said. "No, Mom! You said my dad was killed in a car accident when I was a baby! You lied to me!" I marched up to the stairs and slammed the door.

    CHAPTER 3 : The Day is Long

    After the day my "dad" is alive, the day in school and out of school seems very long. My A+ tests turned to D's. My "dad" now lives in my mom's house. He sleep in the room next to mine, and I could hear him snore everytime I go to sleep and do my homework. I can barely concentrate while doing my homework, sometimes I even have to stay in the bathroom to do my homework. His name is Bill Kress. I never talk to him. Sometimes he would ask me questions or say "hi" or "good morning" but I would just ignore him and walk away, but one day he asked me "Do you forgive me?" I kept on walking. "Do you still love me?" he asked. I started to walk away. He than grabbed me by the shoulder really hard. I pushed him back and ran up the stairs to my room. I was going to slam my door till he pushed his arm against the door. "Answer me!" he said. His eyes started to fill with tears. Than I finally answered "NO!" I used all my strength and slammed the door.
    Few minutes later I peaked under my door and seem to see no foot or shadow. I opened my door and seem to be no one there. Bill's door was open and seem to be no one there as well. I could hear him crying a little. I than went back to my room and sat on my bed, looking at my golden necklace that I had since I was a baby.....

    CHAPTER 4 : A Hungry Morning

    The next day I was walking to school, while wearing my golden necklace. I heard footsteps and leaves on the floor cracking. I turned around but seems to be no one there. I walked to a dark alley which was a shortcut to my deli. I haven't eaten breakfast yet, so I thought ill buy some food, but by the time I got to the center of the alley, three men with dark leather jacket jumped out. Two of them hat broken up bats, and the other one had a shiny silver knife. He point at me, than two of the mans grabbed me by the arms. "You'll shull me watchha gawt okay!?" he said. He spitted his tobacco on the floor, and reached for my pocket. He took my wallet and a pen. He threw out the pen into the garbage pin next to him, and reached in my wallet, and took few dollars. He started to count the money he have took. "You carry three dollars to school!?" He asked. "You worthless piece of crap! Who carries that little money! You should of carry more so we can rob you buddy! Next time you come here, make sure to bring more money! Okay?" he asked. "....Oh-Okay.." I mumbled. They all started to walk away with my money, the man with the knife tossed my wallet into the floor. I reached to pick up my wallet, than suddenly my golden necklace dangled down my neck. One of them turned around and seem to be pointing at my necklace. "Look boss! He has a golden and shinny necklace!" he shouted. "Get him!" the man said. I grabbed my wallet and started to run for it. One of them grabbed my shoulders but I was able to slide all three of them and straight for the Deli. I was hoping to lose them all, and go around from the deli back to school. I was getting late for class. As I was thinking of a plan. One of them tripped me by the foot. It was too late. One of them took a punch at my ribs, I punched him back hard, and he fell to the ground. The other one was holding me down, and the one with the knife was trying to get my golden necklace. I looked around, and one of them started to run. Than the man who was holding me down started to run as well. I looked around and see Bill behind the man trying to grab my necklace. Bill took him by the shoulder and punched him right in his face. I could tell it hurt cause I saw blood in the air as he fell down and I heard a little crack. Bill grabbed him and through him against the wall. The man didn't move, but had blood dripping down his nose. "You alright, John?" He asked. "...Yeah....I'm fine." I answered. Than I realized I responded him in a kind way. He had a grin on his face. "None of them broke your necklace right?" He asked. "No..." I responded. I could hear footsteps, I turned around and saw the two man who was trying to grab my necklace. They both stared at my father, and they ran off. I stood back up, and walked to school.

    CHAPTER 4 : A Bloody Alley

    I was in the 5th period of my class, in Spanish Class writing down some vocabularies. Than suddenly the assistant principal came in my class. "Who is John Verdi in this class?" She asked quickly. I raised my left hand and had a strange feeling. "Pack up and follow me please, Hurry!" she said. I quickly packed up and seem to see my mother outside the door. I could hear crying. Everyone in the class is looking at me. I than took my back pack and ran off the class. "Whats wrong, Mother?" I asked. "....Your ....Fath-Father got shot in the alleys! I don't even know why he was shot or why he was even in a alley! It happened, when you went to school. They said there was about ten people with bats, and one of them with a gun." She said. "I than had a bad feeling. "Where is he now!?" I asked. "In the hospital he's doing surgery right now! We should go see him." She answered. I didn't respond. The assistant principal and two other teachers was looking at us. I walked away out of school, and walked back home. Mother was not following me and could understood why. I looked into the alley where I had been, or where my father was shot. Cops was there, and a man with a darkish suit down to his legs was there looking at the floor. There was cops surrounding there. I managed to slip in. I saw blood on the floor and walls. So much blood. That was when people in the neighborhood called it "The Bloody Alley."

    CHAPTER 5 : Secret of the Golden Necklace

    I was sitting on the bed thinking if I should go and see him, even though he done a big favor for me, and I was the cause of him getting shot. I heard a door shut downstairs, but I ignored it. Foot steps went running up the stairs, and mother stepped in the room. "Are you coming to the hospital with me?" She asked. I didn't respond. "...Let me tell you something..." she asked. I looked up at her. "...That necklace was from your father, before he went to prison he had used all his money he had worked for to buy you it. He told me on the phone while he's in the hospital before he is doing surgery that you had been jumped by three men in the alley. That explains why he was shot. Those three men were in gangs. That's all I want to tell you. Make your decisions if you are coming, or staying here." she said. She left the room and went down the stairs to go outside. I sat on the bed thinking, and thinking if I should go or stay.

    CHAPTER 6 : A Silent Moment

    Thirty minutes passed and I was still thinking if I should go or stay. Than I was thinking how he had helped me fight off those men. I also thought how he was shot because of me! I took my sweater and went off to the hospital. Mother was not here to drive me to the hospital. There was no bus around, and I ran to the Staten Island University Hospital, where my father is doing surgery in.
    Fifty-Seven minutes have passed and I finally reached into the hospital. I looked for the nurse center where they tell you where the rooms are like in those shows. There seem to be a line, there was three young women with white nurse outfits on. I skipped the line and went to one of them and asked me "Where is Bill....." I struggled to remember my father last name. "Bill....Kress..." I said. The women didn't respond and kept on writing down things onto her paper. "Tell me where the hell is he! He's doing surgery and I just found out he's my father, you little a**!" I shouted. Everyone looked at me, even the nurses. The one I was talking to looked at me. She typed things onto her computer, and started to mumble. "Bill Kress is in room 683, on the third floor....Sorry I didn't know..." she answered. I went to the elevator. I couldn't wait that long for it to come down, I ran up the stairs to the third floor and looked for room 683. I could see my mother outside crying. I reached in the door knob and see my father laying on the hospital bed. His eyes were closed, and immediately started to cry. My father turned around and opened his eyes. "Uhhhghhhh...Why are crying...?" He asked. I didn't respond and kept on crying. "I love you, Father!" I finally said. He had a smile on his face, that was what he have been waiting for me to say for many years. Than suddenly his eye was closing slowly. The machine with the line started to jump down slowly. "...I love you too....." he answered back. Mother came in crying. The machine line went straight, and we both knew that he's gone. It was silent.......a silent moment.